Rescuers use hands to free man buried in trench

Police at the Perth property say the man was able to communicate with his rescuers.

ABC

A man who was trapped in a trench in northern Tasmania is being treated for minor chest injuries and mild hypothermia.

The geologist was doing a survey in the White Hills area when a four-metre deep trench he was in collapsed on him.

It took emergency workers more than four hours to dig the man out by hand to free the man to avoid another collapse.

The man remained conscious through out the ordeal and was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

The Fire Service's Steven Richardson says it took a huge effort from rescue crews.

"It was a slow painstaking process ordeal to using small hand and small troubles to dig the dirt our around him, and then it was bucketed out by a human chain, they'd fill the buckets, and then pass them up to the top of the trench," he said.

The man is in hospital in a stable condition. Workplace Standards attended the incident.